Magazines and cooking shows do their best to review pressure cookers but, often, the cookers are tested by people who do not know how to pressure cook nor are aware of basic operational and safety features. Online store reviews are one person’s opinion of one pressure cooker – usually their first. We present you pressure cooker reviews of the latest models, written by an expert in the field with a final rating so the pressure cookers are comparable to each other.
How we rate them
Each review carefully details the features, safety and performance of each pressure cooker with illustrative photos and concludes with a “Hip Score” – a simple average of the cooker’s score for each category. Is clean-up more important to you than performance? Then you should pay careful attention to the rating in that category on the Hip Score Card.
The tests follow a standardized testing procedure with the help of a few techie gadgets and, most importantly, designed to simulate real cooking situations.
What the tests include…
Each pressure cooker being tested is run through the same set of recipes twice. We test for evenness in browning, pressure settings and pressure releases. The cooker’s time to pressure, and evaporation are also carefully measured three times and we report the average of these measurements. We also measure the maximum temperature a cooker reaches at high pressure (not over-pressure or safety release temperature) to more accurately gauge the temperature at which the pressure cooker is actually cooking the food.
Prior to publication, each the review is fact-checked by the manufacturer to ensure the review is accurate and does not include any technical errors. The manufacturer cannot affect the outcome of the score or review, unless the scoring is based on technically incorrect information.
Add your own opinion!
If you own any of the reviewed pressure cookers, please take the time to leave a comment in the review about your experience.